"Seeds of dispute: Divergent acceptance and regulation of genetically modified food (GMF) between the European Union and the United States"

Breunig, Christian. (2003) "Seeds of dispute: Divergent acceptance and regulation of genetically modified food (GMF) between the European Union and the United States". In: UNSPECIFIED, Nashville, TN. (Unpublished)

Abstract

This study will examine why the regulatory framework of the GMF opposes previous patterns of environmental risk regulation and, more importantly, why different approaches towards regulation and acceptance of GMF have emerged in the United States and Europe. The argument of this paper is that, in the case of GMF, differences in acceptance of risk, rather than underlying policy traditions, determine regulatory policy-making. The model of "social amplification of risk" facilitates the understanding of how a new regulatory policy is formed and why policy outcomes diverge in the cases of Europe and the United States. In particular, it will be shown that "focusing events" (food safety scares), the role of the media and other non-governmental organizations, governmental performance, and public opinion has led to a difference of acceptance and regulation of GMF in the United States and Europe. In short, the study attempts to show how the societal definition of acceptability of risk affects the development of environmental regulatory policy.